nations with bigger economies and minimizing ones with smaller economies. Its a very interesting way of presenting this data. There is a web site where there are loads of different subjects showed in this way (http://www.worldmapper.org). This is an image showing where most preventable deaths occur. In the gallery, there are several different representations of this idea, such as the richest areas of the uk, pointed out using rosettes. I think the idea of this portfolio of work is to that show that no matter how wealthy we may be, what social class we are in or how healthy we are, we are still just a number- a statistic.Rory McBeths piece, 'Re-enactment #2' is made of physical barriers; my initial thought being that it was a play on barriers in galleries. To an extent it is, but his piece runs de
eper. He tries to visualize the question, 'Why is there a 'them' (them being celebrity or those of higher status and power) and an 'us''. The sheer number of barriers that are used in the piece build a vast gap between 'us' and 'them'. It almost makes you want to just give up. Most of the pieces in the exhibition had nothing protecting them, but one piece did. Markus Vaters 'Mirror Reading', is a collection of new magazines that he has created which are intended to 'reflect the 21st century demographic'. The are magazines called 'Thanks', 'Apocolypse' and my favourite 'Everybody' which claims to have 10 billion pages, one page for each person who has ever lived. His idea was to fill gaps that magazine companies seem to miss out. I like 'everybody' because it brings 'us' closer to 'them' as now we are in the magazine too. I also like the fact that the covers for the magazines are just purposfully rubbishly drawn and yet are kept in a protective case which makes them seem important and so should be idolized. I think this is a reflection of all that celebrity culture.
Communication theory deals with barriers in terms of ‘noise’ An introduction to information theory, one of the many communication theories can be found at http://www.afirstlook.com/docs/information.pdf This issue is for many artists a fundamental one, in particular the issues surrounding the exchange values associated with the art market. You have touched on several of these in your blog. However some strange art offshoots have occurred. For instance http://www.artout.org/ an artist escort service. This is probably one of the more interesting yet somehow most predictable developments in terms of relational aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteMarshall McLuhan believed that the media must be understood ecologically. Changes in communication technology alter the symbolic environment—the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings. We shaped our tools—the phonetic alphabet, printing press, and telegraph—and they in turn have shaped our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior. Thus the medium is the message.
Your surveillance piece could have very different implications depending on where it was constructed. Is there any way you could visualize this?
Good to see what you have been thinking about, pity you have been invisible for so long. One thing I am aware of is that the bolg format is supposed to be about a community of users and there seems to be very little cross commenting going on between other students.